Chapter 14

• Noah turned up the volume and stood there for a moment. He didn’t know the band or any of the words, but the hard beat vibrated through him and helped him feel like he could breathe. Turning around, he tapped the wrench against his leg as he walked. It was a menial task he’d been given, but it was something to do. Anything was better than putting that look on Emersyn’s face repeatedly. The fear and timid expression on her face when she looked at him felt like knives being jabbed into his chest. It was his fault, he knew that. Seeing him brought it all back to her. He should have gone for a run here, had intended to, then the next thing he knew he was pulling to at Blair’s.
• He rubbed his hand over his chest, feeling the familiar ridges of the scars under his shirt. He could still hear her screaming the day they brought her to the house. She wasn’t screaming for her own welfare though, it was for him, to let him go, stop hitting him. He could never understand why she did that. It would have made things worse for herself fighting against them. He dropped his head down almost to his chest and closed his eyes, he knew all about that, what fighting back brought.
• Opening his eyes, he zeroed in on the job he was supposed to be doing. Removing panels, taking out dents, and prepping the equipment for painting. It wasn’t exactly a hard task, but he was used to it. He got most of the jobs in the shop that didn’t involve engines or moving parts. He rolled his head from side to side and tried to alleviate some of the tight knots so movement would be less painful. He didn’t mind the jobs they gave him; he had no desire to understand the complex workings of engine parts. He’d learned to work a few of the rigs, and he did that well, so that got him out of the shop from time to time where he could go to sites and feel like he was doing something.